While 2020 proved to be one of the most challenging years we have faced, it was also a year of opportunities and accomplishments for the N.C. Forest Service. COVID-19 brought much of the world and much of our lives to what seemed to be a hard stop, but it did not stop the men and […]
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler sits down each week with Southern Farm Network’s Mike Davis to discuss “Today’s Topic.” Our N.C. Forest Service creates a report each year outlining the status of forestry resources in the state. Around 61 percent or 18.7 million acres of the state’s land area is forested. Of that 2.9 million is […]
Since 2002, nearly all redbay trees have been disappearing in areas south of North Carolina. First detected in Georgia, the nonnative redbay ambrosia beetle, Xyleborus glabratus, carried these redbay trees to their dooms by introducing a deadly fungus. While the redbay ambrosia beetle is only about 1/16 inch long, it packs quite a punch against […]
An unwelcome sight has plagued our coastal forests for years now. Dead redbay trees line the roadways and mar our coastal forests in southeastern N.C. These trees are dead because of an invader—a non-native fungus carried from tree to tree by the invasive redbay ambrosia beetle. This fungus causes laurel wilt disease and infected redbays […]
Big things come in small packages, and that is certainly true in the case of laurel wilt disease, though not in a good way. The tree-killing disease has already killed an estimated half a billion redbay trees across the Southeast. This big problem is caused by tiny culprits, a poppy seed-sized beetle and microscopic fungal […]
Each year, the beautiful forests of our state encounter risks from various threats. The significance of native pests vary by year, but the threat from invasive pests is only increasing with time. Some, such as the hemlock woolly adelgid and the emerald ash borer, have the potential to wipe out an entire group of trees in […]
In 2002, an uninvited guest made itself at home in the U.S. when the redbay ambrosia beetle was unintentionally introduced near Savannah, GA. By itself, the beetle would probably not be a big deal. However, it carries with it a deadly weapon: a fungus capable of killing redbay trees and other plants in the laurel […]
They say “don’t sweat the small stuff”, but as laurel wilt continues to spread in North Carolina, some may begin to question that advice. A microscopic fungal spore carried by a beetle about the size of a poppy seed is killing trees across our coastal plains landscape. And there’s not much we can do about […]
Every year, the beautiful forests of our state are at risk from ominous threats. Native insects come and go in significance, but the threat from invasive insects is only increasing with time. Some, such as the hemlock woolly adelgid and the emerald ash borer, have the potential to wipe out an entire group of trees in […]
Laurel wilt is a devastating non-native disease of redbay trees and other plants in the laurel family in the Southeastern U.S. Native to Southeast Asia, it was first detected near Savannah in the early 2000s and has since spread to eight additional Southern states, from Texas to North Carolina. It has already killed an estimated half […]
Pondberry, a small, wetland shrub with yellow flowers that pop up each spring, may soon be gone forever in the state. The shrub, native to the Southeast and historically found in wetland habitats, was essentially wiped out last century as an unintended consequence of wetland draining. Now, the remaining populations are endangered by a non-native […]
Laurel wilt is a devastating non-native disease of redbay trees and other plants in the laurel family in the southeastern U.S. Native to Southeast Asia, it was first detected near Savannah, Ga., in the early 2000s and has since spread to eight additional Southern states. It has already killed an estimated half a billion trees […]